P. T. Usha

Born in Kerala, P. T. Usha became one of India's leading track-and-field athletes in the 1980s. She competed at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 at sixteen and won two silver medals at the 1982 Asian Games. At Los Angeles in 1984, she finished fourth in the 400-metre hurdles, missing an Olympic medal by one hundredth of a second.

At the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, Usha won four gold medals and a silver. Her performances gave Indian girls a visible place in international athletics. She later worked to nurture young athletes and, in 2022, became the first woman president of the Indian Olympic Association, extending her contribution from competition to sports leadership.